Fantasy Studios

Last updated
Fantasy Studios
Company typeRecording studio
IndustryMusic
Founded1970
Defunct2018
Headquarters,
United States
Website fantasystudios.org

Fantasy Studios was a music recording studio in Berkeley, California, at the Zaentz Media Center, known for its recording of award-winning albums including Journey's Escape and Green Day's Dookie . Built as a private recording studio for artists on the Fantasy Records label in 1971, it was opened to the public in 1980 for recording, mixing and mastering. [1] It was permanently closed on September 15, 2018.

Contents

History

Fantasy Records

Fantasy Records and its subsidiary, Galaxy, were established in San Francisco, California, in 1949 by Max and Sol Weiss. The first artist on the label was Dave Brubeck. [2] With help from profits earned from his records the label went on to record Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Cal Tjader and Vince Guaraldi. [3] In addition to musical acts, the label recorded beat poets Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsberg and comic Lenny Bruce. [2]

Creedence Clearwater Revival and expansion

Saul Zaentz, who joined Fantasy Records as a salesman in 1955, assembled a group of investors in 1967 and purchased the label from the Weiss brothers. [4] In 1968 Fantasy Records signed Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), who soon became extremely profitable for the label. Within eighteen months, twenty of CCR's singles made Billboard Hot 100 list and nine were consecutive Top 10 singles in the US. The band also earned 21 RIAA-certified gold or platinum records with total sales of over 100 million worldwide. [5] These successes for CCR made Fantasy the most profitable independent record company in the U.S. [6] and directly resulted in the expansion of Fantasy Records. [7]

In 1971 Fantasy Records relocated to Berkeley, California. [8] In addition to a lobby area, the building included a sauna, an exercise room and a lunch room, which until 1981 was catered daily by Narsai's Restaurant in Kensington. The sauna and exercise room were later rebuilt for other purposes.

In the early 1970s, under the leadership of label president Ralph Kaffel, Fantasy Records purchased the catalogs of three independent jazz labels: Prestige, Riverside (established in 1953 by Bill Grauer and Orrin Keepnews) and Milestone, which Keepnews started in 1966 after the demise of Riverside. After the acquisitions the company became known as "Fantasy Inc." [9]

Recording studios

Fantasy Records built Fantasy Studios to accommodate its growing roster, which remained primarily jazz artists but included some in rock, soul and disco. The building went up at 10th and Parker Streets in the western industrial area of Berkeley. Because of the source of funding, it was nicknamed "The House That Creedence Built." [10] Fantasy was the most profitable independent record company in the U.S. [10] Jim Stern, who had served as producer for the Sons of Champlin and Van Morrison, was chief engineer from 1974 until 1981. Jesse Osborn was another early engineer along with Eddie Bill Harris and Don Cody. [11]

Studio expansion

In 1980, Fantasy Records hired a new Studio Director, Roy Segal. One of Segal's first initiatives was to the addition of Studio D, as well as upgrading the acoustical treatment and equipment in the existing studios. [12] Such upgrades included removing carpet from the studio floors and installing bass traps and tiling for the walls in an effort to acoustically tune the rooms. Equipment upgrades included replacing the original consoles in Studios A and C with Neve 8108s and a Trident in Studio B.

In 1982, Segal was asked to manage the three-year-old Saul Zaentz Film Center, at which point he brought in Nina Bombardier to manage the studios. Bombardier started with Fantasy in 1973 as a receptionist, [13] then moved to manage the Record Plant in Sausalito. She served as the director of Fantasy Studios from 1982 to 2007.

In addition to recording music, Fantasy Studios saw clients in the film, television, gaming and audio book industries for additional dialog recording sessions. All studios were ISDN-compatible, providing full-frequency audio and real-time connectivity to other recording studios around the world. [3]

There were two full-time mastering engineers on site: George Horn and Joe Tarantino. [14] Over his career, Horn remixed or remastered albums by artists such as Charles Mingus, The Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Santana. Joe Tarantino mastered albums by artists such as Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.

Ownership changes and closure

Concord Records acquired Fantasy in late 2004 and the two labels merged to form Concord Music Group. Concord Music Group owned the studios through 2007, at which point the new owners of the Saul Zaentz Media Center, Wareham Property Group, purchased the studios. [15] The role of Studio Director was filled by music producer Jeffrey Wood upon Bombardier's departure. [4] Staff engineers at the time were Adam Muñoz, Jesse Nichols and Alberto Hernandez. [16]

In 2018 Wareham Property Group decided to permanently close the studios.

Facilities

Each of Fantasy Studios' three studios were built to serve a specific purpose. There were five working natural echo chambers of varying sizes and tones, accessible from all three control rooms.

Studio A

Studio A live room Studio A.jpg
Studio A live room

At 1,344 square feet, [17] Studio A could accommodate a big band, and included a DeMedio console. [12] Small audiences could be brought in to give a recording date the feel of a live album, as Keepnews did for a 1973 Cannonball Adderley session, resulting in the album Inside Straight. [18] Studio A also had a projection booth, pull-down screen and portable mixing console that was built for film mixes. During those early years Fantasy also had a film unit and its films (mostly promotional pieces for the label's artists) were mixed in Studio A. The film unit was headed up by Irving Saraf and Robert N. Zagone, two Bay Area documentary filmmakers. Feature films were mixed in Studio A as well, including Academy Award winners One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Apocalypse Now , Amadeus and The English Patient. [3]

In 1980, bass traps and wall tiling were installed to improve acoustics. Studio A's mixing console was replaced with a Neve 8108, which was eventually replaced with an SSL Duality SE. [17]

Studio B

View from control room to live room of Studio B StudioB.jpg
View from control room to live room of Studio B

Studio B, at 546 square feet, [19] was used mostly for smaller acts and comedy records, and was typically used for overdub sessions. Like Studio A, it too used a DeMedio console. [7] [12] In 1980, bass traps and wall tiling were installed to improve acoustics. Studio B's mixing consoles replaced with a Trident, which was eventually updated to a Digidesign C24. Studio B is where Journey's Faithfully, from their Frontiers album was recorded. [19]

Studio C

Studio C was built expressly for CCR, with a separate entrance. [20] Parts of their albums Mardi Gras and Pendulum were recorded there, and the Live in Europe album was mixed there. John Fogerty recorded The Blue Ridge Rangers in Studio C and was in residence there until he left Fantasy in 1974. At 888 square feet, Studio C was also the site of a film soundstage and Foley pits. Studio C was the only studio at Fantasy which used an API console. [12] Studio C was closed to the public in 2008 with the space taken over by another Zaentz Media Center tenant. [7]

Studio D

Main tracking room of Studio D Studio D 2011.jpg
Main tracking room of Studio D

From the profits of the 1975 Zaentz-produced film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Fantasy Studios expanded further in 1980 with the addition of an adjoining seven-story building which included a fourth recording room, Studio D. [7] It also marked the point at which all rooms became open for use by the public for recording, mastering and film scoring.

The new Studio D was designed by Tom Hidley and constructed by Sierra Audio. The control room featured an automated Neve 8108 board, Hidley monitors, Ampex 16- and 24-track recorders and a Studer 24-track recorder. At 1,500 square feet, the live room was built with multiple interior surfaces (unlike the other three rooms): one side of the room featured bass traps, cork and rock on the walls for a "dead" sound; the other featured hardwood floors and ceiling, and mirrored walls for a more "live" sound. [21] Studio D's mixing console was later updated to an SSL SL 4000 E. [21]

One of first albums to be recorded and mixed in its entirety in the newly opened Studio D was Journey's Escape, which reached #1 on the Billboard 200 Chart. The album contained such hits as "Open Arms" (which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 List), "Who's Crying Now" (reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 List) and "Don't Stop Believin'" (reaching #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 List). [22] Fantasy Studios' staff engineer Wally Buck worked as Assistant Engineer on the album.

In November 2011, Studio D's original half-wood, half-carpet floors were updated to hardwood cherry flooring.

Selected major releases by year

Recording artists

Producers and engineers

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creedence Clearwater Revival</span> American rock band

Creedence Clearwater Revival, commonly abbreviated as CCR or simply Creedence, was an American rock band formed in El Cerrito, California. The band consisted of lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter John Fogerty, his brother, rhythm guitarist Tom Fogerty, bassist Stu Cook, and drummer Doug Clifford. These members had played together since 1959, first as the Blue Velvets and later as the Golliwogs, before settling on Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1967. The band's most prolific and successful period between 1969 and 1971 produced fourteen consecutive Top 10 singles and five consecutive Top 10 albums in the United States – two of which, Green River (1969) and Cosmo's Factory (1970), reached number one. The band performed at the 1969 Woodstock festival in Upstate New York, and was the first major act signed to appear there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Fogerty</span> American musician (born 1945)

John Cameron Fogerty is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty, he founded the band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), for which he was the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter. CCR had nine top-10 singles and eight gold albums between 1968 and 1972, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wally Heider Studios</span> Recording studio in San Francisco, CA

Wally Heider Studios was a recording studio founded in San Francisco in 1969 by recording engineer and studio owner Wally Heider. Between 1969 and 1980, numerous notable artists recorded at the studios, including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and The Grateful Dead. The studio changed ownership in 1980 and was renamed Hyde Street Studios, which is still in operation today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saul Zaentz</span> American record company executive and film producer (1921–2014)

Saul Zaentz was an American film producer and record company executive. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture three times and, in 1996, was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

Joe Chiccarelli is an American record producer, mixer and engineer, who is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and has been active since the 1980s. He has produced albums by Stan Ridgway, Morrissey, Oingo Boingo, Spoon, The Shins, Sandra Bernhard, My Morning Jacket, Counting Crows, Augie March, Manchester Orchestra, Minus the Bear, Boy & Bear, Kurt Elling, Saints of Valory, and Big Talk. Other artists include Elton John, Rufus Wainwright, U2, Alanis Morissette, Beck, Etta James, Jamie Cullum, Al Stewart, Tori Amos, The Strokes, The Killers, Cage The Elephant, Cafe Tacuba, Pink Martini, The Shelters, Christina Perri, Third Eye Blind,All American Rejects, Vanessa Carlton, Rachael Yamagata, Michael Buble', Glenn Frey and Jason Mraz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fantasy Records</span> American independent record label

Fantasy Records is an American independent record label company founded by brothers Max and Sol Stanley Weiss in 1949. The early years of the company were dedicated to issuing recordings by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, who was also one of its investors, but in more recent years the label has been known for its recordings of comedian Lenny Bruce, jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi, the last recordings made on the Wurlitzer organ in the San Francisco Fox Theatre before the theatre was demolished, organist Korla Pandit, the 1960s rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, bandleader Woody Herman, and Disco/R&B singer Sylvester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Fogerty</span> American musician (1941–1990)

Thomas Richard Fogerty was an American musician, best known as the rhythm guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revival. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Riverside Records was an American jazz record company and label. Founded by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, Jr, under his firm Bill Grauer Productions in 1953, the label played an important role in the jazz record industry for a decade. Riverside headquarters were located in New York City, at 553 West 51st Street.

<i>Green River</i> (album) 1969 studio album by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Green River is the third studio album by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival, released on August 7, 1969 by Fantasy Records. It was the second of three albums they released in that year, preceded by Bayou Country in January and followed by Willy and the Poor Boys in November.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hit Factory</span> Recording studio in New York City, U.S.

The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. Since 1969, The Hit Factory recording studios have existed in six different locations in New York City as well as facilities in London and Miami. Today the studios are located at 676 Broadway in the Noho neighborhood of New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electric Lady Studios</span> Recording studio in New York City

Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten weeks recording in Electric Lady before his death that year, but it quickly became a famed studio used by many top-selling recording artists from the 1970s onwards, including Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, and David Bowie.

<i>Centerfield</i> (album) 1985 studio album by John Fogerty

Centerfield is the third solo studio album by musician John Fogerty. Released in 1985, it spawned the hit singles "The Old Man Down the Road", "Rock and Roll Girls" and the title track "Centerfield". This was Fogerty's first album in nine years; After the decision not to release his Hoodoo album, Fogerty decided to take a long break from the music business because of legal battles with his record company. In the meantime, Fogerty's recording contract with Asylum Records was reassigned to co-owner Warner Bros. Records so this album was the first released on the Warner Bros. label.

Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and producers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Record Plant</span> Recording studio in Los Angeles, California, United States

The Record Plant is a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and currently operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it has produced highly influential albums, including the New York Dolls' New York Dolls, Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run, Blondie's Parallel Lines, Metallica's Load and Reload, the Eagles' Hotel California, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, Eminem's The Marshall Mathers LP, Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction, and Kanye West's The College Dropout. More recent albums with songs recorded at Record Plant include Lady Gaga's ARTPOP, D'Angelo's Black Messiah, Justin Bieber's Purpose, Beyoncé's Lemonade, and Ariana Grande's Thank U, Next.

A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellectual property of composers.

Greenhouse Studios is a Canadian music recording studio founded by Bruce Levens in 1987 where over 1000 albums have been recorded in the last 25 years. Incorporated as Lions Gate Studios, it subsequently changed its name to Vancouver Studios before adopting its present name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Run Through the Jungle</span> 1970 single by Creedence Clearwater Revival

"Run Through the Jungle" is a 1970 song by American rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released as a double A-side single with "Up Around The Bend" and on the album Cosmo's Factory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sound City Studios</span> Recording studio in Los Angeles, California

Sound City Studios is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, known as one of the most successful in popular music. The complex opened in 1969 in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles. The facility had previously been a production factory of the English musical instrument manufacturer Vox. Throughout the late twentieth century, the studio became known for its signature sound, especially in recording drums and live performances of rock bands.

The Automatt was a sound recording studio in San Francisco, California, promoted for its early mix automation system. During its eight active years, 1976 to 1984, it was one of the top recording studios in the region. The Automatt was founded by producer David Rubinson and opened in an existing studio subleased from Columbia Records, who continued to record in the same building for a few years; thus it was sometimes referred to as CBS/Automatt. Rubinson leased the whole building in 1978 and from that point, operated three rooms for recording and mixing, a mastering room, a rehearsal room, and offices. The studio complex was known for its top-notch equipment, for the hit records it produced, and for the famous artists who recorded there. Under Rubinson and chief engineer Fred Catero it served as the training ground for respected recording engineers such as Leslie Ann Jones and producers such as Scott Mathews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Marino</span> American mastering engineer (1947–2012)

George Marino was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s.

References

  1. "The Berkeley Main Post Office Salutes Ashkenaz and Fantasy Films. Category: Extra from The Berkeley Daily Planet". berkeleydailyplanet.com. Retrieved 2019-05-01.
  2. 1 2 Johnson 2006, p. 37
  3. 1 2 3 Gilbert, Andrew. "Fantasy is No Mirage." The Monthly. April 2009
  4. 1 2 Tate, Brian. "Digital media in fantasyland." San Francisco Business Times,. February 1, 2008
  5. Creedence Clearwater Revival Album & Song Chart History, Billboard.com. .
  6. Johnson 2006, p. 49
  7. 1 2 3 4 Poet, j. (August 6, 2008). "Fantasy Studios: Alive and Well in Berkeley." Crawdaddy!
  8. "Zaentz Media Center – 2600 Tenth Street". Wareham Properties. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  9. "Fantasy". Concord Music Group. Archived from the original on July 29, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  10. 1 2 Johnson 2006, p. 126
  11. Johnson 2006, p. 229
  12. 1 2 3 4 Johnson 2006, p. 228
  13. Johnson 2006, p. 157
  14. "Services". Fantasy Studios. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  15. Schultz, Barbara (July 1, 2008). "Not Just a Fantasy: Fantasy Studios. Legendary studio is back from the brink". Mix. NewBay Media. Archived from the original on August 26, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  16. "Staff". Fantasy Studios. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  17. 1 2 "Studio A". Fantasy Studios. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  18. Johnson 2006, p. 127
  19. 1 2 "Studio B". Fantasy Studios. Archived from the original on August 9, 2011. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  20. "Fantasy Studios About". Fantasy Studios. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  21. 1 2 "Studio D". Fantasy Studios. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
  22. "Journey – Escape". Allmusic. Retrieved August 8, 2011.
Bibliography